Pages 1 - 25 Summary and Analysis

Henry's 97-year-old neighbor dies, and the woman's granddaughter comes to Henry's gate, asking for Valium. This makes Henry Rollins think about permanence and death, and it makes him anxious to leave L.A., where he has no sense of attachment to things. He recalls Big John Macias facing down a cop who told them to leave a restaurant, and he recalls a few other venues where he saw bands he liked. In spite of his memories, he has only used L.A. as a "twenty-year location to store my stuff in between tours" (p. 3).

Rollins says that bootlegs allow him to listen back through time to a live event, and he says that there is a difference between U2 and 'rock' and real music that keeps people alive. Rollins says that he is starting to prepare for tour, after...